Dashcam help please

[gilberto]

New car to me had previously fitted with a cheap Dashcam.
Hard wire power lead still there!
Managed to ascertain that it's 12 V 1A
Want to put my camera in which states 12V 1.5A
Would I be ok to use this rather than having to fiddle getting new lead through?
Thanks in advance

 

[John]

Electrical items draw the current they need.

I'd be surprised if a dash cam drew anything like 1A, let alone 1.5A. My guess would be up to 0.5A but I don't know for sure.

You could connect it up and use a multimeter to see what the current draw is.

Just set your multimeter to 10A if you have that first, connect the positive of the multimeter to the positive source lead (do that first without touching anything else) and then touch the negative multimeter prong to the positive input of the dash cam. If the reading is below the next rating, switch it down to the next one.

If you know it's a 1.5A from the fuse, you could always swap out the 1A fuse with a 1.5A or just leave it until it blows (unlikely).

 

[gilberto]

Electrical items draw the current they need.

I'd be surprised if a dash cam drew anything like 1A, let alone 1.5A. My guess would be up to 0.5A but I don't know for sure.

You could connect it up and use a multimeter to see what the current draw is.

Just set your multimeter to 10A if you have that first, connect the positive of the multimeter to the positive source lead (do that first without touching anything else) and then touch the negative multimeter prong to the positive input of the dash cam. If the reading is below the next rating, switch it down to the next one.

If you know it's a 1.5A from the fuse, you could always swap out the 1A fuse with a 1.5A or just leave it until it blows (unlikely).

Electrical items draw the current they need.

I'd be surprised if a dash cam drew anything like 1A, let alone 1.5A. My guess would be up to 0.5A but I don't know for sure.

You could connect it up and use a multimeter to see what the current draw is.

Just set your multimeter to 10A if you have that first, connect the positive of the multimeter to the positive source lead (do that first without touching anything else) and then touch the negative multimeter prong to the positive input of the dash cam. If the reading is below the next rating, switch it down to the next one.

If you know it's a 1.5A from the fuse, you could always swap out the 1A fuse with a 1.5A or just leave it until it blows (unlikely).

Thank you I'm not very technical,will have to get a multimeter!

 

[ToeKnee]

If you don't have a multimeter how do you know it was 1amp?

 

[gilberto]

Found the manual for the previous camera.
Thanks

 

[John]

You don't need to buy a multimeter...

The wire you are using may not even have a fuse on it anyway but if it does, a 1A fuse is safer than a 1.5A fuse anyway. So worse-case you might need to replace the fuse (but swap with a 1.5A this time) if it went but I doubt it will from normal operation.

The only issue might be if the wire has no fuse and you draw too much current - in which case the wire can get warm and possibly catch fire. To be sure, you'd have to work out the gauge of the wire.

But again, I imagine most cameras draw similar current anyway +/- 0.2A - the most will be when they are charging and recording I would think so unless they've used ridiculously thin wire, it should be fine.

 

[gilberto]

You don't need to buy a multimeter...

The wire you are using may not even have a fuse on it anyway but if it does, a 1A fuse is safer than a 1.5A fuse anyway. So worse-case you might need to replace the fuse (but swap with a 1.5A this time) if it went but I doubt it will from normal operation.

The only issue might be if the wire has no fuse and you draw too much current - in which case the wire can get warm and possibly catch fire. To be sure, you'd have to work out the gauge of the wire.

But again, I imagine most cameras draw similar current anyway +/- 0.2A - the most will be when they are charging and recording I would think so unless they've used ridiculously thin wire, it should be fine.

Many thanks